“What do you plot against the LORD? He will make a complete end; trouble will not rise up a second time.” (Nahum 1:9)
Plan what you want. Plot and strategize as you will. It will do you no good. When God decides to destroy, destruction comes sure and complete. When the Almighty knocks you down you do not get back up to cause trouble again.
“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. (Psalms 2:1-4)
Speaking of Judah we read “I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.
For thus says the LORD, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.” (Jeremiah 4:25-27)
When God promises judgment then restoration, count on it.
When God promises destruction without restoration, as appears to be the case so far in Nahum, count on it.
Whenever the church takes a hit the world pulls out their prewritten funeral announcement. But God is her protector. He uses these hits for His own purpose, to purge her and to strengthen her. This we know.
When the godless take a hit we often do not know if it is God allowing them to reap the fruit of their rebellion or it is His divine active judgment. Will it lead to death or to repentance? We are wise to hold out tongues until God makes it clear. What we are sure of is that in the salvation of sinners, God is glorified. And in the destruction of sinners, God is glorified. We also know that until God makes it clear to the persons who are dead in sin, they cannot see the cause-and-effect relationship between their sin and their pain. Pray for those headed for destruction because in their sin-filled hearts they plot all day long how to thwart God and get away with their sin. “What do you plot against the LORD? He will make a complete end; trouble will not rise up a second time.” (Nahum 1:9)